In embroidering a fabric using the technology currently available it is possible to use ready designed embroidery elements which are stored in a memory, either in the sewing machine or an external memory unit. Such embroidery elements can be combined and programmed to succeed one another in order to generate a desired pattern. Examples of the combination of embroidery elements are given in the document U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,334, which discloses a method of combining embroidery elements, in this case embroidered letters, so that these follow a predefined curve. By specifying certain data, such as the radius of the curve, for example, the machine then embroiders a sequence of embroidery elements along the predefined curve, in which the embroidery elements are slanted in relation to one another in order to follow the curve described. The information for the sewing machine memory on the reciprocal relationship of the embroidery elements is in this case supplied externally by user-input and is not derived from data associated with the embroidery elements themselves. Another document U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,001 describes a method of storing data on a sewing pattern in embroidery blocks, which recur cyclically in a sequence so as to produce a desired embroidery pattern.
Advanced embroidery sewing machines provide tools for creating new designs by combining existing designs and/or patterns forming embroidery elements. Said embroidery elements, herein also called Stitch Data Objects and abbreviated SDO, contain stitch data for e.g. a pattern, a pattern sequence, a design, an embroidery character or a sew character. The SDOs may be freely combined by an operator or by a machine controlled algorithm. The machine controlled algorithm may as an example position the SDOs on a circle or a sine curve. When using prior art algorithms for positioning the SDOs on an arbitrary curve for providing more advanced shapes of embroideries, there are drawbacks, which will be pointed out along with the description of the present invention.